Boo murder: Five others who felt the fans' wrath

Alex Nicholson

Whether it was the model girlfriend, the cars, or the bleached blond hair, but Michael Clarke had a brutal initiation to the world of Australian captaincy in the final match of the ODI series against England at the Gabba on January 30, 2011.

He went in woefully out of form, was roasted by a raucous Brisbane crowd as he took guard, but scored 54, helping lead Australia to a 51-run victory and a 4-1 series win.

Santa

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In December 1968, at Franklin Field, the old home ground of NFL team the Philadelphia Eagles, the Eagles squared off against the Minnesota Vikings.

In howling winds and frigid temperatures, disenchanted Eagles fans, who had endured 11 successive defeats, vented their spleen by booing and throwing snowballs at the most benevolent and seemingly inoffensive of figures - Santa Claus.

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Mario Balotelli

There was nothing funny, however, about the treatment of Italian striker Mario Balotelli after he was subjected to racial taunts by braindead Inter Milan fans last February. Playing for AC Milan for the first time against his former club, he was greeted by Inter fans waving inflatable bananas and shouting racial slurs. The football ''bad boy'' kept calm. The match finished 1-1.

Lucas Neill was booed when the Socceroos played Costa Rica in November. Photo: Getty Images

Lucas Neill

The Socceroos skipper, part of the ''golden generation'' that famously made it past the group stage of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, was savagely booed by fans at Allianz Stadium in November after the Socceroos had been dealt a footballing lesson by heavyweights France and Brazil in the preceding two games, losing 6-0 to both.

Neill must have presumably wiped those defeats from his memory, politely asking the crowd midway through the game, ''Why the f--- are you booing?'' Despite the unfavourable reception, the Socceroos prevailed 1-0 over the 31st-ranked Costa Ricans.

Muhammad Ali

The 1975 ''Thrilla in Manila'' between Ali and Joe Frazier has gone down as one of the best fights in boxing history, and was the final of three bouts between two fighters whose rivalry was as fierce as their boxing styles were contrasting. With the Araneta Coliseum packed to the rafters, Ali was subjected to fierce booing from a Filipino crowd desperate to see the underdog Frazier emerge victorious.

It wasn't to be, with Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch throwing in the towel at the end of the 14th round and leaving Ali to claim the title of undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.